


Water

by ambiguous_nights



Series: Whumptober 2020 [16]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Day 19, Gen, Grief, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27124394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguous_nights/pseuds/ambiguous_nights
Summary: After Order 66, Obi-wan struggles to survive.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950745
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	Water

**Author's Note:**

> warnings- grief, vaguely suicidal thoughts

Ben looks down at the wrench in his hand, trying to remember what he’s supposed to be doing with it. The struggling vaporator looms before him, but he has no idea how to fix it. He had come here with an idea, an intention, a plan, but it’s gone now. Lost just like everything else.

The wrench slips from Ben’s fingers

What’s the point in trying?

It clatters against the metal casing of the vaporator. It’s a sound that echoes across the galaxy. It’s the sound of lightsabers falling from the hands of dead Jedi, their lives stolen from them, from their children, from their friends.

His cloak feels impossibly heavy as he crouches down to retrieve the wrench. The sun beats down on him, staring at him, blaming him, accusing him.

The first lesson the children of Tatooine learn is to not cry. Water is too valuable to waste on emotions. Beru had warned him. The old woman that had sold him a bucket of oily cream for his pale skin had warned him. Even the bartender had warned him during Ben’s last trip into town.

It is not a lesson Ben has learned.

Ben squeezes his eyes shut, trying and failing to keep the tears from escaping. He’s already so short on water. If he doesn’t fix this vaporator, he’s going to have to go into town and use his dwindling supply of credits for water.

He reaches down for the wrench but can’t bring himself to pick it up. His hand hovers a few inches from it before it falls back to his side.

What’s the point?

Everything is gone. And he is alone.

\----

“Ben?” Beru calls.

Ben freezes. He hastily tries to wipe the tear tracks from his face and turns away from the vaporator. His stiff body protests after spending hours in the shadow of the vaporator working, then crying.

“Beru,” Ben says as he stands up. He pulls his hood up, trying to further hide the evidence of his misery from her, to hide his shame, but her piercing eyes see through his feeble attempt.

She looks at his vaporator, then the wrench in his hand. “You could have asked for help,” she says.

Ben shrugs. She knows that he has no one to ask except her. Owen had threatened to shoot him if he ever saw Ben again, so he tends to avoid the both of them now.

“Come on,” Beru says and goes inside.

She doesn’t shame him for his tears. She doesn’t berate him for not taking care of himself. She doesn’t comment on the mess that fills his home. Instead, she takes some bread and cheese from his barely stocked pantry and sets it on a plate.

“Eat,” she says.

Ben looks down at the plate. He feels more tears trying to form, but his dehydrated body cannot spare any water. 

Beru touches his arm and Ben nearly shatters. It has been so long since someone touched him, longer still since that touch has been kind.

“Grieve,” she says. “I will look after you.”

Ben shakes his head.

“We do not survive alone on Tatooine,” she says. “And you are one of us now. We will take care of you.”


End file.
